MessageMedia Adds Secure Messaging Capabilities to Service Offerings

Secure messaging opens way for lucrative new financial services,Health care, e-commerce applications

BOULDER, COLO. - July 24, 2000 - MessageMedia Inc. (Nasdaq: MESG), the leading provider of strategic messaging solutions and services, announced today it has added secure messaging to its messaging platform by licensing Tumbleweed Communications' (Nasdaq: TMWD) Integrated Messaging Exchange™ (IME™). MessageMedia clients can then utilize end-to-end security for a wide variety of purposes including delivery of financial statements, confidential records or sensitive correspondence.

"The ability to provide secure email capabilities to our clients opens up a powerful new dimension in strategic messaging," said Larry Jones, president and CEO of MessageMedia. "There are significant applications - such as delivery of financial statements, secure order confirmations, and internal corporate communications - for which security is a vital component in the messaging equation. We expect security to generate an excellent new revenue stream among existing MessageMedia clients as well as attract new clients whose business requires a security element."

In a MessageMedia secure messaging application, the recipient receives a "package notification." To view the secure message, he then launches a web page and uses a dynamically assigned personal identification number (PIN) to access the information. Data cannot be copied from the secure window, although the message can be archived for later viewing or can be automatically deleted after a set amount of time has elapsed.

"MessageMedia's client base is getting ready to experience the next stage of messaging technology," said Mark Pastore, vice president of corporate development at Tumbleweed Communications. "Our IME platform makes email a true secure one-to-one interactive communication channel." Analysts estimate the potential market value for secure message delivery to stretch into trillions of dollars in the coming five years, with numerous uses in both business-to-consumer and business-to-business applications. International Data Corporation estimates that B2C e-commerce transactions will grow from $32 billion in 1998 to more than $426 million in 2002. Specific market segments driving such growth include business-to-business messaging, healthcare and insurance filing, electronic presentation of bills and other financial transactions.

In the B2B arena, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates value of domestic electronic inter-company e-commerce transfers to rise from $115 billion currently to more than $1.5 trillion by 2004. Employment services such as payroll automation and other employer-to-employee communications and communications in the health care industry, legal services, financial advisory, and document distribution services all represent high-growth markets.

The secure messaging offering will be available in the fourth quarter of this year.

MessageMedia Solutions and Business Applications
MessageMedia delivers email marketing, secure messaging, online ustomer intelligence and online customer care services as well as a full line of hosted and enterprise software applications designed to advance a complete online dialogue between organizations and their customers. The company's renowned client services team - with more than 125 marketing professionals - provides quantitative analysis of campaign and customer data, opt-in program design and custom implementation for every customer based on current needs and future business strategies. MessageMedia offers specialized industry solutions for the publishing, ISP/portal, retail/e-tail, financial services, high tech and travel and entertainment arenas.

About MessageMedia Inc.
MessageMedia (Nasdaq:MESG) provides e-commerce services, permission-based direct marketing, ongoing customer communication and real-time customer feedback solutions using industry standard Internet protocols. MessageMedia's customer portfolio features Cisco, E*TRADE, AOL, Yahoo!, Microsoft, GeoCities, CMP Media, Barclays Bank, EDS, Universal Studios, Hoover's Online and Bertelsmann.

Investors in MessageMedia include SOFTBANK and its affiliates, which constitute the world's largest investors in the Internet and Pequot Capital Management, a Connecticut-based research-intensive investment firm.

About Tumbleweed Communications Corp.
Tumbleweed is a leading provider of solutions for managing secure communication and collaboration to enable the business Internet. Tumbleweed's robust policy-based framework empowers organizations to safely share and protect critical information, increase customer loyalty and privacy and dramatically reduce costs. Tumbleweed is trusted by 1,000 blue-chip customers including American Express, Chevron, Datek Online, the European Union's Joint Research Council, First Union Wachovia, John Deere, Merrill Lynch, Nike, Northern Trust, NTT, Salomon Smith Barney, Travelers and US Food and Drug Administration. One hundred of the Fortune 500 are Tumbleweed customers. Tumbleweed Communications was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., with offices around the world.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, particularly with respect to the security features of Tumbleweed's products and the activities of any third party. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "potential," "continue," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and similar expressions. For further cautions about the risks of investing in Tumbleweed, we refer you to the documents Tumbleweed files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly Tumbleweed's Form 10-K filed March 30, 2001 and Form 10-Q filed November 13, 2001. Tumbleweed assumes no obligation to update information contained in this press release.

MessageMedia Inc.
6060 Spine Road, Boulder, Colo. 80301
Phone: (303) 440-7550; Fax: (303) 440-0303
www.messagemedia.com
Investor Relations inquiries should be sent to investor@messagemedia.com